IceMen storm to shootout win

Top rival Cyclones in physical fight

Evansville IceMen’s Todd Robinson, (19) goes for the puck as he rams into Cincinnati Cyclones’ David Pacan, (25) in the first period of Friday night’s game at the Ford Center.$RETURN$$RETURN$

DANIEL R. PATMORE / SPECIAL TO THE COURIER & PRESS
Evansville IceMen fan Brian Reising, of Mount Vernon, cheers on his team in the first period of Friday night’s game at the Ford Center.$RETURN$$RETURN$

DANIEL R. PATMORE / SPECIAL TO THE COURIER & PRESS
Evansville IceMen’s Matt Krug, (4) tries to get control of the puck from Cincinnati Cyclones’ Trevor Lewis, (18) in the first period of Friday night’s game at the Ford Center.

DANIEL R. PATMORE / SPECIAL TO THE COURIER & PRESS
Evansville IceMen’s Philippe Plante, (24) works his way around Cincinnati Cyclones’ Mathieu Aubin, (9) to get to the puck in the first period of Friday night’s game at the Ford Center.

Photographs by DANIEL R. PATMORE / SPECIAL TO THE COURIER & PRESS
Evansville IceMen’s Todd Robinson (19) tries to get control of the puck as Cincinnati Cyclones’ Josh McFaddens, (2) comes in from behind him in the first period of Friday night’s game at the Ford Center.

Dylan Clarke made certain Friday night that the Evansville IceMen's first home game in the ECHL to be extended to a shootout ended on a positive note.

Clarke used his favorite one-on-one move to slip the puck past Cincinnati goaltender Zoltan Hetenyi to give the IceMen a 5-4 win over the Cyclones in front of a crowd of 5,751 at the Ford Center.

"Quick fake to the backhand off to a forehand shot. It worked out," said Clarke.

Before scoring the game-winner, Clarke watched as teammates Todd Robinson, Nathan Moon and Kevin Baker were each denied, with Hetenyi easily snaring shots by Moon and Baker with his glove.

Clarke took note and went stick-side.

"I was talking to Mark Cody before and he said 'Stay on your forehand,'" said Clarke.

"It was good advice. I then looked at Karpie (goaltender Paul Karpowich), who knows my shootout move. He told me to use it."

Until then it was beginning to look like another roller-coaster ride was going to end in a downer for the IceMen after Cincinnati scored a pair of goals in the first and second periods to grab a 4-3 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.

But Josh Beaulieu scored the equalizer just 3:32 into the third period, and the IceMen almost got the game-winner from Moon a little more than two minutes later when he deflected a shot by Daniel Tetrault past Hetenyi.

The goal was disallowed, however, because of a high-stick call on Moon.

"I thought Moon's deflection was good," said IceMen head coach Rich Kromm. "When you look at the highlights, (the stick) was clearly below his shoulders."

It all made for a busy night for the referees.

Four seconds after the puck dropped, Cincinnati's Andrew Conboy began the game by demonstrating the fine art of sucker-punching. And that was just the start of a night of fighting and jersey pulling tussles.

The first period alone had a combined 49 penalty minutes.

By the time it ended, the Cyclones had been assessed 65 penalty minutes and the IceMen 58.

Anthony Nigro gave the IceMen the early lead with a power-play goal just 1:51 into the first period, but Cincinnati struck for a pair of scores in a four-minute span by Josh Shalla (5:24) and Wilson (9:34). Jake Obermeyer's goal drew the IceMen even at the 10:17 mark.

Moon scored 9:30 into the second period for a 3-3 tie to deny the Cyclones a chance to build more momentum after Dan Eves had scored 26 seconds into the second period. Still, Cincinnati's Michael Pelech did strike with less than five minutes remaining to put the Cyclones back ahead entering the third.

But from there, Evansville goaltender Paul Dainton came up big, denying Cincinnati on its final nine shots in regulation and overtime. Then he blanked all five Cyclone skaters in the shootout.

The win ended a four-game skid by the IceMen, including a 7-3 loss to Cincinnati a week ago.

Kromm said afterward that he projects the IceMen (17-26-4) will need to win at least 16 of their remaining games to have a shot at reaching the ECHL postseason. If nothing else, a win over the North Division leaders was a step in the right direction.

"We aren't out of it," said Kromm, whose team hosts Elmira tonight at 7:15. "Every game is a four-point game if we are beating teams in our conference."